Download or read book Chaos Wonder the Spiritual Adventure of Parenting written by Sarah Conover and published by Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. This book was released on 2011 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exceptional writers such as Barbara Kingsolver, Barry Lopez, Rosemary Bray McNatt and Scott Russell Sanders reflect on how children have transformed their spiritual lives. Contributors explore those times when children helped them appreciate the mystery and beauty of life, how children threw them into battles with their souls, and how children helped them say "yes" to living. The writers are from diverse spiritual traditions.
Download or read book Bridging written by Gail Forsyth-Vail and published by Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. This book was released on 2012 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Gift of Faith written by Jeanne Harrison Nieuwejaar and published by Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. This book was released on 2005-02 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eloquent and inspiring, The Gift of Faith celebrates the importance of nurturing our children's spiritual growth. This is a call for parents to be intentional, strong and clear in their choices regarding the messages that children receive about religion. By sharing her own stories and experiences, Nieuwejaar shows that religious community can play an integral role in clarifying and deepening the faith of parents, who inevitably are children's primary religious educators. She also explores ways to foster spiritual awareness in the home and includes rituals for marking the events in children's lives as religious occasions. This important book is ideal for adults of any faith who are concerned with the spiritual development of children. Book jacket.
Download or read book In the Midst of Chaos written by Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on 2019-03-01 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How the daily practices of life with children can shape our faith In the Midst of Chaos explores parenting as spiritual practice, building on Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore's fresh conceptions of children from her book Let the Children Come. She questions conventional perceptions that spiritual practices require silence, solitude, and uninterrupted prayer and that assume a life unburdened by care of others. She is both honest about the difficulties and attentive to the blessings present in everyday life and demonstrates that the life of faith encompasses children and the adults who care for them. Miller-McLemore explores how parents might use seven daily practices, such as play, reading, chores, and saying goodbye or goodnight as rich opportunities to shape both parent and child morally and spiritually. Through these experiences, she shows how the very care of children forms and reforms the faith of adults themselves, contrary to the belief that adults must form children. In the Midst of Chaos also goes beyond the typical focus on individual self-fulfillment by tackling difficult questions of social justice and mutuality in the ways families live together. Readers will find in this book an invitation to love those around them in the midst of life's craziness and to live more deeply in grace.
Download or read book 936 Pennies written by Eryn Lynum and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2018-02-06 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Make the Most of Your Time with Your Children On the day of their baby dedication, Eryn and her husband were given a jar of 936 pennies. The jar contained a penny for every week they would raise their child until graduation, and they were instructed to remove one penny each Sunday as a reminder, placing it into another jar as an investment. At some point every parent realizes time is moving swiftly, and they ask themselves, How am I investing in my child? Through personal stories and biblical examples, 936 Pennies will help you discover how to capture time and use it to its fullest potential, replacing guilt and regrets with freedom. Meanwhile, your kids will see how simple choices, like putting the cell phone down and going on a family hike, will make all the difference. Together you will stretch time and make it richer. Craft a family legacy in tune with God's heartbeat as you capture a new vision for your children and learn the best ways to spend your pennies.
Download or read book Crazy Cool Family written by Don Manning and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-05-12 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What if you could read one book that would change the course of your family forever? A book that would show you a clear pathway to an awesome, Jesus-focused family where everyone in the family loves Jesus and loves each other deeply? A book that would help you be confident your kids will leave your nest connected to you and walking with Jesus?Crazy Cool Family is that book! Authors Don and Suzanne Manning, parents of seven godly children and ministers to hundreds of Crazy Cool Families over the last decade, deliver a uniquely gifted message that will cause you to Rethink the Way You Do Family!They asked Jesus in Matthew 22:37-40 what was most important in life. He said life was about relationships, first with our Heavenly Father and then with others around us. The same is true for family. Family is our most important network of relationships and the strength of our family will be determined by the strength of all of the family relationships.This book will show you how to navigate all of the relationships in your home so that everyone in the home loves and likes each other as well as show you how to create a culture in your home so that everyone wants to be there! Filled with stories, humor, and love, this is a book you will refer to again and again as a treasure map to unlock the unique, amazing family God has for you!
Download or read book What Size Are God s Shoes written by Tim Schenck and published by Church Publishing, Inc.. This book was released on 2008-07 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "It’s hard to have a God complex when your kids expect you to play garbage truck every night. This is the game where I lie on the floor as the boys stuff trucks, action figures, and plastic dinosaurs into my shirt. When the garbage truck is full to the point of overflowing, I go to the town dump by standing up. This is repeated ad nauseum. On any given day, I might find myself absolving sins in the name of the Church one moment and serving the cause of waste management the next." Do you believe God can be found in both the miraculous and the mundane? Through 40 insightful and engaging essays, Tim Schenck helps us encounter God through the chaos of everyday life. The divine presence weaves its way into a family room fish tank, a child’s probing questions, the town pool, and the drive-thru window of the local fast food chain.
Download or read book Finding Calm in the Chaos written by Kathleen Long Bostrom and published by Westminster John Knox Press. This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The bestselling author of "God Loves You" now offers a book of devotions to help women create calm in the chaos of their busy lives. Comprised of 28 days of devotions for each month of the year, "Finding Calm in the Chaos" is the perfect gift for women who do too much.
Download or read book Release My Grip written by Kami Gilmour and published by Group Publishing (Company). This book was released on 2017 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Saying goodbye to a child as they leave the nest and learn to fly ushers parents into an emotional time of grief, joy and nostalgia. Release My Grip, by popular blogger Kami Gilmour, offers inspiration and practical insight as she reveals the surprising truth she learned while knee-deep in this sacred season of parenthood. Often humorous and always honest and hope-filled, these stories have equipped and encouraged the hearts of millions on the popular SoulFeed blog. In this keepsake book, you'll discover how this time can be fertile ground for deepening your relationship with Jesus. You'll also gain the practical tools you need to help you pause, reflect, and capture the words on your heart during your own unique journey as a parent of a young adult fledgling--from high school graduation through the years that follow. With every chapter of Release My Grip, you'll find: - Compelling reflection questions that draw you into the peace of God's presence and promise, gently shifting your focus from the loss you feel to the richness and hope of a new season that's just beginning. - Relevant Scriptures to ponder--words that reveal God's heart, bringing relief and hope in the midst of wondering and worrying. - Practical challenges that help you adjust to the rhythm of life's "new normal" and maintain meaningful connection with your young adult child. - Journaling spaces that make it easy to capture your letting-go journey as it unfolds, making this book a treasured keepsake to reflect back upon.
Download or read book This Life That Is Ours written by Lauren Burdette and published by Upper Room Books. This book was released on 2019-04-01 with total page 111 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Life That Is Ours offers 40 gentle meditations with guidance for reflection on the spiritual journey of motherhood. These practical, soul-affirming meditations nurture a mother's heart and spiritual life in a season fraught with overwhelm, exhaustion, and loss of identity. Through the lens of Burdette's real-life stories, the reader is invited to ponder her experience and to contemplate where God might be present. This book is divided into three sections. Reflections in the first section, "Becoming a Mother," explore the dynamics of being a new mother and the whirlwind experience of those early months and years. The second section, "Becoming Yourself," considers what it means to return home to yourself—to begin to find your identity again, both within the realm of motherhood and outside of it. The third section, "Becoming Holy," names the holy paradoxes of motherhood—the ways it can be both extraordinary and mundane, both gift and sacrifice—ultimately deepening one's experience of the holiness of motherhood. This Life That Is Ours includes an introduction, a preparatory guide for the reflective journey, a closing spiritual practice, and a conclusion. This book can be used in communities of mom groups, intergenerational groups of women, or spouse groups and would make a great gift for new mothers and mothers-to-be.
Download or read book Kid Gloves written by Lucy Knisley and published by First Second. This book was released on 2019-02-26 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times bestseller If you work hard enough, if you want it enough, if you’re smart and talented and “good enough,” you can do anything. Except get pregnant. Her whole life, Lucy Knisley wanted to be a mother. But when it was finally the perfect time, conceiving turned out to be harder than anything she’d ever attempted. Fertility problems were followed by miscarriages, and her eventual successful pregnancy plagued by health issues, up to a dramatic, near-death experience during labor and delivery. This moving, hilarious, and surprisingly informative memoir, Kid Gloves, not only follows Lucy’s personal transition into motherhood but also illustrates the history and science of reproductive health from all angles, including curious facts and inspiring (and notorious) figures in medicine and midwifery. Whether you’ve got kids, want them, or want nothing to do with them, there’s something in this graphic memoir to open your mind and heart.
Download or read book Love Powered Parenting written by Tom Holladay and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2011-12-20 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Love-Powered Parenting is written out of a love for parenting and a deep desire to encourage parents. Yes, there are experiences in parenting that can cause deep hurt. Yes, there are realities in parenting that certainly will cause you to feel inept. Yet at the core of it all there is a deep gratefulness for the gift that God gives in the opportunity to love a child. This book is a biblical guide to parenting. And by "biblical guide" we mean these pages are intended to take you on a journey through what the truth of God's Word has to say about parenting. The main goal is not to uncover psychological truths about your child--there are many good resources on psychological theory; nor does it include practical tips for everyday circumstances such as how to get your kids to eat their green beans. Here, we will explore the simple and profound principles of God's Word to distinguish psychological truth from error, educational reality from untested theory, and we'll be looking at these tips within the broader context of God's principles for parenting.
Download or read book Parenting a Journey of Faith While Navigating the Detours written by Lucy Watani-Simiyu and published by WestBow Press. This book was released on 2021-07-30 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lucy Watani-Simiyu walks you through the raw and ugly moments in parenting that come when tragedy first strikes. She wrote this book after a season when nothing made sense and it felt like she’d been abandoned by God. It was a time filled with anxiety and heartbreak, and with many questions unanswered. As she shares her story,she gives you permission to not be a hero or be an unobtainable version of someone’s faithful Christian highlight reel. You can be right where you are ... moving toward freedom. As you read, In her parental journey and counselling sessions, the experiential learning from thousands of parents raised many questions and gives answers to questions such as: How can parents connect themselves to the very heart of God? What message does God have for you as a parent? Can children question their faith in God in a nerve-wracking way to parents and yet continue to function sanely? How can parents equip themselves with the truth of God’s Word to keep sane and fulfill their ambassadorial calling. What does it mean for a parent to have a well-planned journey for a child? You ask: what do I do when my child makes the wrong choices? How do I deal with contrary or counterculture? What about parenting guilt? Where is God in all this? Filled with verses from Scripture, examples from the Bible, and practical insights from the author’s own life experiences, this book will help you combine grace, truth, and God’s Word to find strength and help children overcome obstacles. This book points you to the source of joy in your journey by pointing you to God’s Word, the truth that sets you free when the journey gets weary. The blueprint still works—not to make you guilty but to liberate you. Maybe you are a parent who is paralyzed by fear of your child’s choices. You may be anxious, hopeless, and helpless about your child’s future. Perhaps you are weighed down by guilt and shame, caught in a slump, overwhelmed with regret trapped in a dead-end parenting, and numb from a child’s choice. You may be drowning in disappointment, anger, shame, and unfilled spiritually so that God and his promises do not make sense.Instead of tying our hope to specific outcomes, let us connect ourselves to the very heart of God. With compelling storytelling and sound scriptural backup, this book gives you the biblical pathway to help you as a parent move beyond the pain of the present to a hope-filled future.
Download or read book Kindness written by Sarah Conover and published by Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. This book was released on 2010 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sarah Conover's collection of traditional Buddhist tales leads us to the kind of implicit understanding of ourselves and others that only stories can provide. Following the Buddha through his various transformations, these clarified, often humorous narrative journeys open the ancient masters profound and gentle teachings to persons of all ages, religions, races, and ideological persuasions. Over and over this marvelous book tells us, "let go of your anger, your fear, your greedy desire. Embrace gladness. Follow the path." And the stories themselves, simply as stories, from a wondrous pageant: of elephants, monkeys, monks, and men working through foolishness toward wisdom and delight.
Download or read book Ordinary Miracles written by Rachel S. Gerber and published by MennoMedia, Inc.. This book was released on 2014-03-10 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Where is God in the midst of temper tantrums, laundry, and accidents? Find out in this honest devotional memoir about mothering three busy boys. In Ordinary Miracles, ordained Mennonite minister and blogger Rachel S. Gerber gives voice to the grit of parenting with stories of hope. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, who failed at first to recognize Christ walking beside them, Rachel learns to discover the gifts and holy calling hidden in the events of harried family life. Overburdened parents will find reassurance in Rachel’s own story of how, in her darkest hour of disorientation, in the most mundane and ordinary days of motherhood, and in moments of exhilaration, joy, and beauty, God is present.
Download or read book Perfect Chaos written by Linea Johnson and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2012-05-08 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Johnsons were a close and loving family living in the Seattle area - two parents, two incomes, two bright and accomplished daughters. They led busy lives filled with music lessons, college preparation, career demands, and laughter around the dinner table. Then the younger daughter, Linea, started experiencing crippling bouts of suicidal depression. Multiple trips to the psych ward resulted in a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, and it took many trial runs of drugs and ultimately electroshock therapy to bring Linea back. But her family never gave up on her. And Linea never stopped trying to find her way back to them. Perfect Chaos is the story of a mother and daughter's journey through mental illness towards hope. From initial worrying symptoms to long sleepless nights to cross-country flights and the slow understanding and rebuilding of trust, Perfect Chaos tells Linea and Cinda's harrowing and inspiring story, of an illness that they conquer together every day. It is the story of a daughter's courage, a mother's faith, and the love that carried them through the darkest times.
Download or read book Leader of the Pack written by Matt Sweetwood and published by . This book was released on 2021-04 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leader of the Pack is the story of a man who, like many men, had been going through his life apparently content and positively clueless, who found himself tethered to a tornado as his marriage descended into violence and madness. Surviving courts and cops and chaos and a crazy-challenging-business, he unexpectedly ended up the only parent of five small children--ranging in age from only 18 months to 8 years old-at a time when most men didn't even know how to change a diaper. It is my story.In it, I detail the transformation I underwent from sole breadwinner to sole parent, from a beaten abused shell of a man to the strong, confident and spiritual person I am today; a nationally recognized spokesman for single dads and entrepreneurs.Though the facts of my story may be different than some, the feelings are the same for single father's everywhere. We are frustrated. We're no longer just the backup parent; the ringer sent in when Mom isn't available - though that was all we had ever been trained for when it came to parenting. It's not that we don't love our children. We do, but that and $5 will get you a latte at Starbucks.A quarter of all American households are headed by men who find themselves or choose to be single dads. We need to own that position, be proud of it, figure out the best way to make it work and above all, add our voice to a swelling chorus of support for our brothers who find themselves in our same shoes.We must learn to parent like a dad and that does not mean being only half of a team. In my life, and in the lives of millions of men today, we are the parent. Where there were two, now there is one and we must be enough.Lives depend on it?our kid's lives.
